Sanskrit
अव्यक्तं व्यक्तिमापन्नं मन्यन्ते मामबुद्धयः । परं भावमजानन्तो ममाव्ययमनुत्तमम् ॥ २४ ॥
avyaktaṃ vyaktim āpannaṃ manyante mām abuddhayaḥ paraṃ bhāvam ajānanto mamāvyayam anuttamam
Translation
Those devoid of Reason think of Me, the unmanifest, as having manifestation, knowing not My supreme nature, imperishable, most excellent.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
A different failure mode from verses 20-23’s desire-driven worship: intellectual rather than devotional, mistaking Krishna’s unmanifest (avyakta) nature for something that merely “has manifestation” — a plausible misreading of exactly the kind of divine incarnation the tradition itself will later center. Verse 25 explains the mechanism behind this specific confusion.